


Just Breathe

by Kohaku1977



Category: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 08:35:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8884042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kohaku1977/pseuds/Kohaku1977
Summary: Had you asked Harry Lockhart what the one thing would be he did not want to experience again, he would probably have joked about it and told you that there were a lot of things he did not care to ever witness or experience again, starting in childhood and ending yesterday. It was one of those questions where there is a public answer and a private answer to, and if Harry was honest, or feeling especially close to the one asking that question, he would have given the one true answer.





	

**Author's Note:**

> written for Wendyr in a song title challenge.

Had you asked Harry Lockhart what the one thing would be he did not want to experience again, he would probably have joked about it and told you that there were a lot of things he did not care to ever witness or experience again, starting in childhood and ending yesterday. It was one of those questions where there is a public answer and a private answer to, and if Harry was honest, or feeling especially close to the one asking that question, he would have given the one true answer.

Which is why he was now kneeling on the cement floor of a warehouse, pressing his hands against Perry's side and cursing whatever creature Fate might be, because she sure as hell was no lady, but maybe he had the lady thing mixed up and it was Luck who was supposed to be a Lady, but sure as fuck was not either because this, this was pretty much the one thing Harry did not want to go through ever again. 

He was rambling and he knew it. Even in his head he was rambling.

“Stay with me, Perry. Just breathe, just try and breathe, all right?”

When Harry said he did not mind being shot, it was almost true, because Perry was always there and that was enough to go through the pain until the medics were there with the painkillers and IVs and general fuss. And nobody had ever hit anything vital, so Harry was lucky in his being unlucky. Seeing Perry on the floor, eyes slightly unfocussed and breath rattling was much more painful than a bullet to his own side.

“Please, Perry,” he begged, it did not matter that he begged as long as Perry would _listen_ , “Stay with me. Breathe, just breathe.”

When the medics came he fought with them until they let him ride along, and then he fought doctors and nurses, visitation rights and times, until they let him curl up in a chair next to Perry's bed when he came out of surgery.

“I didn't tell you that I need you,” Harry said into the silence of the night while looking at the heart rate monitor, “I did not even tell you that I want you. In my life, you know. I should have, so you better wake up again, so I can.”

He half expected Perry to wake up and tell him to shut up.

“I'm such an idiot, I know,” Harry said.

When he woke up again, it was day, and the quiet beep of the monitors was gone. Perry looked at him, a little pale but amused, and Harry grinned so wide his cheeks hurt.

“You are such a sap,” Perry rasped out.

“That's why you love me, right?”  
“I would love it if you went home and showered and shaved.”

Harry rubbed a hand over the stubble on his cheek.

“And maybe dressed in something less blood stained. You look like you work in a slaughter house.”

It was meant as a joke, but Harry could feel the cement under his knees again, the stickiness of the blood against his hands.

“Harry? Harry! Breathe, all right?”

He blinked and Perry looked somewhat spooked.

“It's fine, we're fine, see?” Perry squeezed Harry's hand, and Harry relaxed a little.

“Perry, I...”

Perry waved him off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Same here. Go shower. I mean it.”

“You know?”  
“I was neither deaf nor dead at the time. Can you please fuck off now? I need some healing sleep. And you need soap.”

Harry smiled after Perry closed his eyes. It maybe was not the reaction he had anticipated, but at least he did not pull any stitches from the joy.

And when Harry came back two hours later, showered and shaved and with a balloon, Perry's eyes went soft.

“You can stay,” he said softly. 

Sometimes, it was all in the unsaid. So should Perry ever ask about the one thing Harry would not want to experience again, he would probably say 'Harmony's cooking” and leave it at that.

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a rather old KKBB story I wrote in 2010. I only found it again a few days ago and decided to post it. During the Christmas season, I am always one for sap.


End file.
